Method, apparatus, and system for judging path congestion

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and discloses a method for determining path pre-congestion. The method is applicable to an Ethernet path. Pre-congestion is determined and flagged through an ingress node or an intermediate node in the Ethernet path, and a pre-congestion status indication packet is sent by an egress node to the ingress node or a policy server, so that the ingress node or the policy server obtains pre-congestion information of the Ethernet path, and notify an application function entity AF of performing admission control. When the method in the present disclosure is used, problems of packet loss and excessively long time delay caused by the conventional congestion control technology may be avoided, thereby ensuring user experience of existing services.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2009/072411, filed on Jun. 23, 2009, which is hereby incorporatedby reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and inparticular, to a method, an apparatus, and a system for determining pathcongestion.

BACKGROUND

A plurality of convergence nodes exist in the current network, and agreat number of service streams converge at the convergence nodes,causing that congestion may occur in the convergence nodes, so how tocontrol the network congestion effectively becomes an urgent problem tobe solved.

In the prior art, the problem above is usually solved by sending atraffic control frame or discarding a packet. For example, whencongestion occurs in a certain Ethernet switch in the Ethernet, thecurrent Ethernet switch sends a traffic control frame to an upper levelEthernet switch, and the upper level Ethernet switch performs trafficcontrol process. Specifically, the upper level Ethernet switch reduces arate of sending data to the current Ethernet switch in a certain periodof time to avoid congestion. At this time, the current Ethernet switchmay further discard an Ethernet packet in a priority scheduling modeand/or in a random mode.

During the implementation of the present disclosure, the inventor of thepresent disclosure finds that the prior art at least has the followingproblems. The upper level Ethernet switch reduces the rate of sendingdata to the current Ethernet switch to avoid congestion, causing that atransmission time delay of the existing service stream becomescongestion, causing that a transmission time delay of the existingservice stream becomes longer; and the current Ethernet switch discardsthe Ethernet packet to avoid congestion, causing that packet loss occursto the existing service stream. Therefore, the prior art is notapplicable to a real-time service. For example, for a video service, thevideo becomes not smooth or encounters mosaics, thus directly affectinguser experience of the video service. Therefore, the prior art is seldomadopted.

SUMMARY

The objective of present disclosure is to provide a method fordetermining path congestion, so as to ensure user experience of existingservices when congestion occurs in an Ethernet.

The objective of the present disclosure is achieved through thefollowing solutions.

A method for determining path congestion is applicable to an Ethernetpath. An egress node in the Ethernet path receives an Ethernet packet;determines whether the egress node changes a current pre-congestionstatus, where the current pre-congestion status includes the status thata pre-congestion occurs and the status that the pre-congestion does notoccur

When the current pre-congestion status is changed, a pre-congestionstatus indication packet is generated. The pre-congestion statusindication packet includes a path identifier of the Ethernet path; andthe pre-congestion status indication packet is sent to an ingress nodeor a policy server to perform admission control. In addition, when apre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet received by theegress node, the pre-congestion flag is deleted.

A method for processing path congestion is applicable to a policy serverin an Ethernet. The policy server performs admission control accordingto pre-congestion information of the Ethernet, which is: receiving apre-congestion status indication packet or notification of another nodein other format; obtaining pre-congestion information of an Ethernetpath; and notifying an application function entity (AF) of performingadmission control.

A method for determining path congestion is applicable to an Ethernetpath.

An ingress node or an intermediate node in an Ethernet path determineswhether pre-congestion occurs in the node after receiving an Ethernetpacket, sets a pre-congestion flag in the Ethernet packet if thepre-congestion occurs, and sends the Ethernet packet.

An apparatus for determining path congestion, where the apparatus islocated in an Ethernet path, includes: an Ethernet ingress port,configured to receive an Ethernet packet; a pre-congestion determiningmodule, configured to determine whether pre-congestion occurs in anEthernet node after the Ethernet ingress port receives the Ethernetpacket; and a pre-congestion flag determining module, configured todetermine whether a pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernetpacket after the Ethernet ingress port receives the Ethernet packet.

When the apparatus is an ingress node or an intermediate node in theEthernet path, the apparatus further includes: a pre-congestion flagmodule, configured to set the pre-congestion flag in the Ethernet packetwhen the pre-congestion determining module determines that thepre-congestion occurs in the ingress node or the intermediate node; andan Ethernet egress port, configured to send the Ethernet packet.

When the apparatus is an egress node in the Ethernet path, the apparatusfurther includes: a pre-congestion status storage module, configured tostore a pre-congestion status of the Ethernet path; a pre-congestionstatus changing module, configured to query the pre-congestion statusstored in the pre-congestion status storage module, determine whether tochange the pre-congestion status, and change the pre-congestion status;a pre-congestion status indication packet generating unit, configured togenerate the pre-congestion status indication packet when thepre-congestion status changing module determines that the egress nodechanges the pre-congestion status, where the pre-congestion statusindication packet includes a path identifier of the Ethernet path; andan Ethernet egress port, configured to send the pre-congestion statusindication packet.

A policy server, where the policy server is located in an Ethernet,includes: an Ethernet ingress port, configured to receive apre-congestion status indication packet; and

a notification module, configured to notify an AF of performingadmission control after the Ethernet ingress port receives thepre-congestion status indication packet.

A system for determining path congestion includes at least one Ethernetpath. Each Ethernet path includes the apparatus for determining pathcongestion as an ingress node, the apparatus for determining pathcongestion as an intermediate node, and the apparatus for determiningpath congestion as an egress node.

In the solutions according to the present disclosure, the ingress nodeor the intermediate node in the Ethernet path determines and flags thepre-congestion; the egress node determines whether to change the currentpre-congestion status and generates the pre-congestion status indicationpacket; and the ingress node or the policy server in the Ethernetreceives the pre-congestion status indication packet to performadmission control, thereby solving problems of excessively long timedelay and packet loss of the existing service stream in the prior art,so that an effect of realizing congestion control without affecting theuser experience of the existing services is achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of networking according to an embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method for determining path pre-congestionby an ingress node or an intermediate node according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for determining path pre-congestionby an intermediate node according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of another method for determining pathpre-congestion by an intermediate node according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method for determining path pre-congestionby an egress node according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a format of an Ethernet packetaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a label control information field 606of an Ethernet packet according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a user data field 608 of apre-congestion status indication packet according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a format of a common open policyservice protocol packet according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an encapsulation object 906 of anotherpre-congestion status indication packet according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an ingress node apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of an intermediate node apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of an egress node apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a determining apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a policy server according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a system according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure; and

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of another system according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In order to make the objective, the solutions and the advantages of thepresent disclosure more comprehensible, the following illustrates thepresent disclosure in further detail with reference to embodiments andaccompanying drawings. It should be understood that, embodiments to bedescribed here are only for interpreting the present disclosure, and arenot intended to limit the present disclosure.

To facilitate illustrations, a specific embodiment of the presentdisclosure is introduced in the following. An example shown in FIG. 1includes an ingress node 110, an intermediate node 120, an egress node130, an application function entity 150, and a policy server 140. Theingress node 110, the intermediate node 120, and the egress node 130 arenodes in an Ethernet path respectively, and the dash line is a path offeeding back a pre-congestion status indication packet by the egressnode 130. A method for determining path pre-congestion is specificallyintroduced in the following.

The ingress node 110 or the intermediate node 120 determines whetherpre-congestion occurs in the ingress node 110 or the intermediate node120 after receiving an Ethernet packet, sets a pre-congestion flag isset in the Ethernet packet if the pre-congestion occurs in the ingressnode 110 or the intermediate node 120, and sends the Ethernet packet.

The egress node 130 receives the Ethernet packet, and determines whetherthe egress node 130 changes a current pre-congestion status. The currentpre-congestion status includes the status that a pre-congestion occursand the status that the pre-congestion does not occur. When the currentpre-congestion status is changed, a pre-congestion status indicationpacket is generated. The pre-congestion status indication packetincludes a path identifier of the Ethernet path, and the pre-congestionstatus indication packet is sent to the ingress node 110 or the policyserver 140 to perform admission control.

In order to make this embodiment clearer, the following describes themethod for determining path pre-congestion in the embodiment in detailthrough the ingress node 110, the intermediate node 120, and the egressnode 130, respectively.

A specific processing flow of the ingress node 110 in above embodimentis as shown in FIG. 2.

201: Receive an Ethernet packet.

202: Determine whether pre-congestion occurs in the ingress node 110,which may be implemented as follows. Collect statistics about a value ofdata traffic of the ingress node 110, and determine whether the value ofthe data traffic of the ingress node 110 is greater than a firstthreshold. If the statistical value of the data traffic is greater thana first threshold, the pre-congestion occurs; if the statistical valueof the data traffic is smaller than the first threshold, thepre-congestion does not occur; when the statistical value of the datatraffic is equal to the first threshold, it may be considered that thepre-congestion occurs or the pre-congestion does not occur, which may bedetermined through configuration according to situations.

204: If the pre-congestion does not occur in the ingress node 110,forward the received Ethernet packet to the intermediate node 120. Theoperation of the ingress node 110 ends.

205: If the pre-congestion occurs in the ingress node 110, set apre-congestion flag in the Ethernet packet.

The pre-congestion flag may be set in the Ethernet packet in thefollowing modes.

A format of an Ethernet 802.1Q packet is as shown in FIG. 6, whichincludes fields such as a preamble 601, a Start-of-Frame Delimiter 602,a destination Media Access Control (MAC) address 603, a source MACaddress 604, a tag protocol identifier 605, label control information606, a frame length/frame type 607, user data 608, and a frame checksequence 609. A specific format of the label control information field606 in the format of the Ethernet 802.1Q packet is as shown in FIG. 7,which includes a user priority 701, a canonical format indicator 702,and a virtual local area network identifier 703. For definitions of theabove fields, reference may be made to the definitions in 802.1Qstandard.

A value of the canonical format indicator CFI field 702 in FIG. 7 is setto a specific value, for example, 1.

Alternatively, the user priority field 701 in FIG. 7 is set to aspecific value. For example, the priority in the 802.1Q protocolincludes 0 to 7, and the highest priority 6 or 7 may be adopted as thepre-congestion flag, that is, a 3-bit field of the priority is set to110 or 111. The above only takes 6 or 7 as an example for illustration.During practical networking, different operators may designate thespecific value according to rules inside the networks of their own.

206: Send the Ethernet packet to the egress node 130, and send theEthernet packet to the intermediate node 120, where the pre-congestionflag set in step 205 is carried in the Ethernet packet.

After finding the pre-congestion, the ingress node 110 sends theEthernet packet carrying the pre-congestion flag to the egress node 130without sending a traffic control frame to an upper level node. Aplurality of upper level nodes may exist at the same time, so a problemthat a service bandwidth is occupied may be caused when the trafficcontrol frame is sent to the upper level nodes. In the embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the Ethernet packet is only sent to the egress node130, and only one egress node 130 exists, so the problem of bandwidthwaste is avoided when the Ethernet packet is sent to the plurality ofother nodes, thereby effectively saving the bandwidth.

Further, the intermediate node 120 in the embodiment of the presentdisclosure notifies the pre-congestion status by setting thepre-congestion flag in an existing Ethernet packet bearing the servicedata, and the dedicated traffic control frame is not needed, therebyavoid bandwidth waste.

A specific processing process of the intermediate node 120 in theembodiment is as shown in FIG. 3. Processing actions of the intermediatenode 120 are the same as the actions of the ingress node 110. Thedifference is that, on the basis of all the actions of the ingress node110, the intermediate node 120 further determines whether thepre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet from the ingressnode 110. That is, the intermediate node 120 may only determine whetherthe pre-congestion occurs in the intermediate node 120, or theintermediate node 120 may also determine whether the pre-congestionoccurs in the intermediate node 120 and whether the pre-congestion flagis carried in the Ethernet packet from the ingress node 110. When theintermediate node 120 only determines whether the pre-congestion occursin the current node, the actions are the same as the actions of theingress node 110, which are not repeated here.

The specific operation steps when the intermediate node 120 determineswhether the pre-congestion occurs in the current node, and determineswhether the pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet fromthe ingress node 110 are introduced in detail below.

During the specific implementation that the intermediate node 120determines whether the pre-congestion occurs in the intermediate node120 and determines whether the pre-congestion flag is carried in theEthernet packet, the intermediate node 120 may first determine whetherthe pre-congestion occurs, or may first determine whether thepre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet, and the sequenceis not limited. The two modes are introduced in the followingrespectively.

A specific operation for first determining whether the pre-congestionoccurs and then determining whether the pre-congestion flag is carriedin the Ethernet packet is as shown in FIG. 3, in which 301, 304, 305,and 306 are the same as 201, 204, 205, and 206 in FIG. 2, respectively,so the description is not repeated. 302 and 303 are introduced in detailbelow. In 302, it is determined whether the pre-congestion occurs in theintermediate node 120, which is the same as 202 in FIG. 2. If thepre-congestion does not occur in the intermediate node 120, the processturns to step 304. If the pre-congestion occurs in the intermediate node120, the process turns to step 303.

In step 303, it is determined whether a pre-congestion flag is carriedin the received Ethernet packet, that is, it is determined whether thepre-congestion flag set in step 205 is carried in the Ethernet packet.Specifically, it is determined whether the canonical format indicatorCFI field of 802.1Q protocol in the Ethernet packet is the specificvalue (1) set in step 205 or it is determined whether the priority fieldof 802.1Q protocol in the Ethernet packet is the specific value (6 or 7)set in step 205. If the pre-congestion flag exists in the receivedEthernet packet, the process turns to step 304. If the pre-congestionflag is not carried in the received Ethernet packet, the process turnsto step 305.

A specific operation for first determining whether the pre-congestionflag is carried in the Ethernet packet and then determining whether thepre-congestion occurs is as shown in FIG. 4, in which 401, 404, 405, and406 are the same as 201, 204, 205, and 206 in FIG. 2, respectively, sothe description is not repeated. 402 and 403 are introduced in detailbelow. In 402, it is determined whether the pre-congestion flag iscarried in the received Ethernet packet, which is the same as 303 inFIG. 3. If the pre-congestion flag exists in the received Ethernetpacket, the process turns to step 404. If the pre-congestion flag is notcarried in the received Ethernet packet, the process turns to step 403,where it is determined whether the pre-congestion occurs in theintermediate node 120. Step 403 is the same as 202 in FIG. 2. If thepre-congestion occurs in the intermediate node 120, the process turns tostep 405. If the pre-congestion does not occur in the intermediate node120, the process turns to step 404.

After the pre-congestion occurs in the intermediate node 120, theintermediate node 120 sends the Ethernet packet carrying thepre-congestion flag to the egress node 130 without sending a trafficcontrol frame to an upper level node. A plurality of upper level nodesmay exist at the same time, so a problem that a service bandwidth isoccupied may be caused when the traffic control frame is sent to theupper level nodes. In the embodiment of present disclosure, the Ethernetpacket is only sent to the egress node 130, and only one egress node 130exists, so the problem of bandwidth waste is avoided when the Ethernetpacket is sent to the plurality of other nodes is avoided, therebyeffectively saving the bandwidth. Further, the intermediate node 120 inthe embodiment of present disclosure notifies the pre-congestion statusby setting the pre-congestion flag in the existing Ethernet packetbearing the service data, and the dedicated traffic control frame is notneeded, thereby avoiding bandwidth waste.

A specific processing process of the egress node 130 in the embodimentis as shown in FIG. 5, which includes the following.

501: Receive an Ethernet packet.

502: Determine whether to change the current pre-congestion status. Thecurrent pre-congestion status includes the status that thepre-congestion occurs and the status that the pre-congestion does notoccur. Two situations that the status that the pre-congestion does notoccur and the status that the pre-congestion occurs are changed to eachother are respectively introduced below.

When the pre-congestion status is the status that the pre-congestionoccurs, it is determined whether the pre-congestion occurs in the egressnode 130 and whether the pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernetpacket. When the pre-congestion does not occur in the egress node 130,and the pre-congestion flag is not carried in the Ethernet packet, theprocess turns to step 503 to change the current pre-congestion status.Accordingly, the changing the current pre-congestion status isspecifically that the status that the pre-congestion status occurs ischanged to the status that the pre-congestion does not occur. Thepre-congestion status indication packet indicates that thepre-congestion does not occur in the Ethernet path.

When the pre-congestion status is the status that the pre-congestiondoes not occur, it is determined whether the pre-congestion occurs inthe egress node 130 and whether the pre-congestion flag is carried inthe Ethernet packet. When the pre-congestion occurs in the egress node130 or the pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet, theprocess turns to step 503 to change the current pre-congestion status.Accordingly, the changing the current pre-congestion status isspecifically that the status that the pre-congestion does not occur ischanged to the status that the pre-congestion occurs. The pre-congestionstatus indication packet indicates that the pre-congestion occurs in theEthernet path.

503: Change the current pre-congestion status from the status that thepre-congestion does not occur into the status that the pre-congestionoccurs, or from the status that the pre-congestion occurs into thestatus that the pre-congestion does not occur.

504: Generate the pre-congestion status indication packet. Specifically,when the current pre-congestion status is changed, the pre-congestionstatus indication packet is generated. The pre-congestion statusindication packet respectively indicates the status that thepre-congestion occurs and the status that pre-congestion does not occur.

The pre-congestion status indication packet includes an Ethernet 802.1Qprotocol packet and a common open policy service COPS protocol packet.

When the pre-congestion status indication packet is the 802.1Q protocolpacket shown in FIG. 6, a management virtual local area networkidentifier is born in the virtual local area network identifier field703 shown in FIG. 7, and the user data field 608 shown in FIG. 6 is usedto bear pre-congestion status information. The user data field 608 mayrepresent the pre-congestion information in a plurality of modes, forexample, a representation mode shown in FIG. 8 may be adopted, which isspecifically as follows.

A message type 801 is configured to represent that the packet deliversthe pre-congestion status information.

A message path number 802 is configured to represent an amount of pathinformation fed back by the packet.

A message length 803 is configured to represent the number of bytes ofthe message.

A reserved field 804 is a field for other purposes.

A path 1 identifier 805, a path 2 identifier 807, . . . , and a path Nidentifier are configured to represent the identifier of the Ethernetpath.

Path 1 pre-congestion information 806 represents a pre-congestion statusof the first Ethernet path, for example, 0 represents that thepre-congestion does not occur, and 1 represents that the pre-congestionoccurs.

Accordingly, path N pre-congestion information represents apre-congestion status of the Nth Ethernet path.

The defined format of the user data field 608 is not limited to aspecific format, and the pre-congestion information may be representedin a plurality of modes.

The egress node 130 sends the pre-congestion status indication packet tothe policy server 140, which specifically further includes the followingmodes.

The pre-congestion status indication packet may be the common openpolicy service COPS protocol packet shown in FIG. 9.

The pre-congestion status information is delivered by adopting thecommon open policy service COPS protocol packet. The COPS protocolpacket is as shown in FIG. 9, and the COPS protocol packet includes aCOPS protocol header 901-905 and an encapsulation object 906.

The COPS protocol header includes the following.

A version number (Version) 901 designates a COPS version number, and acurrent version number is 1.

A flag value (Flags) 902 designate s that a flag value is 1, which is arequest information flag bit.

An operation code (Op Code) 903 is configured to identify a COPSoperation.

A client-type (Client-Type) 904 is configured to identify a policyclient, and the explanation of all the encapsulation objects is relatedto the Client-Type.

A message length (Message Length) 905 is length of information, whichincludes the lengths of standard COPS header and all the encapsulationobjects.

An encapsulation object (Objects) 906 is self-defined pre-congestionstatus information. The encapsulation object field 906 is configured tobear the pre-congestion status information, and the encapsulation objectfield 906 may represent the pre-congestion information in a plurality ofmodes, for example, a representation mode shown in FIG. 10 may beadopted, which is specifically as follows.

A pre-congestion status message path number 901 is configured torepresent an amount of path information fed back by the packet.

A path 1 identifier 902, a path 2 identifier 904, a path 3 identifier906, . . . , and a path N identifier are configured to represent theidentifier of the Ethernet path. Path 1 pre-congestion information 903represents pre-congestion information of an Ethernet path 1, forexample, 0 represents that the pre-congestion does not occur, and 1represents that the pre-congestion occurs.

Accordingly, path N pre-congestion information represents apre-congestion status of the Nth Ethernet path.

The self-defined encapsulation object field is not limited to a specificdefinition mode.

An sequence of performing step 503 and step 504 is not limited.

505: Send the pre-congestion status indication packet to the policyserver 140 or the ingress node 110, so that the policy server 140 or theingress node 110 notifies the application function entity AF 150 ofperforming admission control. When the pre-congestion status indicationpacket is sent to the ingress node 110, the pre-congestion statusindication packet may be sent through the original Ethernet path, orthrough other paths, which is not limited in the embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Optionally, the egress node 130 may further perform the followingaction. 506: When it is determined that the pre-congestion flag iscarried in the Ethernet packet, delete the pre-congestion flag in theEthernet packet first, and then forward the Ethernet packet; andalternatively, when it is determined that the pre-congestion flag is notcarried in the Ethernet packet, forward the Ethernet packet directly.

Therefore, after forwarding the Ethernet packet, the egress node 130determines whether to change the current pre-congestion status, and theegress node 130 changes the current pre-congestion status and sends thepre-congestion status indication packet, so that the ingress node 110 orthe policy server 140 performs admission control after obtaining thecongestion information of the Ethernet path.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, only the egress node 130sends the pre-congestion status indication packet, and the ingress node110 and the intermediate node 120 do not need to send the pre-congestionstatus indication packet.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, after the Ethernet packetcarrying the pre-congestion flag is received, the egress node 130determines whether to change the current pre-congestion status throughthe comparison with the current pre-congestion status. Only when thecurrent pre-congestion status is changed, the egress node 130 sends thepre-congestion status indication packet to the ingress node 110 or thepolicy server 140 without sending the pre-congestion status indicationpacket every time when the Ethernet packet carrying the pre-congestionflag is received, thereby reducing the number of the sent pre-congestionstatus indication packets, and saving the bandwidth.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the egress node 130 sendsthe pre-congestion status indication packet to the ingress node 110 orthe policy server 140, so that the ingress node 110 or the policy server140 performs admission control. The admission control does not reduce asending rate, and when the Ethernet packets need to be discarded, onlythe Ethernet packets of the new service streams are discarded, therebyensuring that the Ethernet packets of the existing service streams arenormally processed. The Ethernet packets are not discarded in a priorityscheduling mode and/or in a random mode, so as to effectively ensureuser experience of the existing service streams. Therefore, the presentdisclosure is particularly applicable to real-time service.

Further, after receiving the pre-congestion status indication packet,the policy server 140 or the ingress node 110 notifies the applicationfunction entity AF 150 of performing admission control.

The policy server 140 or the ingress node 110 notifies the applicationfunction entity 150 of performing admission control, which mayspecifically include the following modes.

The ingress node 110 is made to stop admitting new services, or toterminate a part of real-time services, thereby ensuring quality ofservice of most of the real-time services.

In the embodiment, the pre-congestion status indication packet may bereceived through the ingress node 110, so that policy server 140 is notessential.

The policy server 140 or the ingress node 110 may also receive apre-congestion status indication packet of nodes other than the egressnode 130 or a pre-congestion status indication packet in other formats.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, after receiving thepre-congestion status indication packet, the policy server 140 or theingress node 110 performs admission control without reducing the sendingrate, and when the Ethernet packets need to be discarded, the Ethernetpackets are selected to be discarded according to the service streams,that is, the Ethernet packets of the new service streams or a part ofthe existing service streams are discarded, thereby ensuring that theEthernet packets of most of the existing service streams are normallyprocessed. The Ethernet packets are not discarded in the priorityscheduling mode and/or in the random mode, so as to solve problem ofexcessively long time delay and packet loss of the existing servicestreams resulting from the prior art, thereby effectively ensuring theuser experience of existing services. Therefore, the present disclosureis particularly applicable to the real-time services.

In the present disclosure, the path specifically includes a virtuallocal area network VLAN path, and the types of the transmitted servicestreams on the path are not limited. The transmitted service streams maybe a video service stream, a voice service stream, and a data service.

The number of the intermediate nodes 120 is not limited in the Ethernetpath shown in FIG. 1. A plurality of intermediate nodes 120 may beincluded on one Ethernet path, and each intermediate node 120 sends theEthernet packet or forwards the received Ethernet packet to a next hopnode of the node.

The ingress node 110, the intermediate node 120, and the egress node 130in the embodiment of the present disclosure may be Ethernet devices, andmay also be any other network devices having an Ethernet changingfunction module. In addition, the ingress node 110, the intermediatenode 120, and the egress node 130 in the embodiment of the presentdisclosure refer to network devices having a function of determiningpath pre-congestion in the embodiment of the present disclosure. Anembodiment of the present disclosure further provides an apparatus fordetermining path congestion, where the apparatus is located in aningress node 110 in an Ethernet path. As shown in FIG. 11, the apparatusspecifically includes the following.

An Ethernet ingress port 1110 is configured to receive an Ethernetpacket.

The Ethernet ingress port 1110 is further configured to receive apre-congestion status indication packet. Accordingly, as shown in FIG.11, the apparatus further includes a notification module 1150, which isconfigured to notify an application function entity AF 150 of performingadmission control after the Ethernet ingress port 1110 receives thepre-congestion status indication packet.

A pre-congestion determining module 1120 is configured to determinewhether pre-congestion occurs in ingress node 110 after the Ethernetpacket is received.

A pre-congestion flag module 1130 is configured to set a pre-congestionflag in the Ethernet packet when the pre-congestion determining module1120 determines that pre-congestion occurs in the ingress node 110.

An Ethernet egress port 1140 is configured to send the Ethernet packet.

When the pre-congestion determining module 1120 determines that thepre-congestion does not occur in the ingress node 110, the Ethernetegress port 1140 is further configured to forward the Ethernet packet.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an apparatusfor determining path congestion, where the apparatus is located in anintermediate node 120 in an Ethernet path. As shown in FIG. 12, theapparatus specifically includes:

an Ethernet ingress port 1210, configured to receive an Ethernet packet;

a pre-congestion determining module 1220, configured to determinewhether pre-congestion occurs in the intermediate node 120 after theEthernet packet is received;

a pre-congestion flag determining module 1230, configured to determinewhether a pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet afterthe Ethernet packet is received;

a pre-congestion flag module 1250, configured to set the pre-congestionflag in the Ethernet packet when the pre-congestion determining module1220 determines that the pre-congestion occurs in the node; and

an Ethernet egress port 1240, configured to send the Ethernet packet.

When the pre-congestion determining module 1220 determines that thepre-congestion does not occur in the intermediate node 120, the Ethernetegress port 1240 is further configured to forward the Ethernet packet.

In the embodiment, the pre-congestion flag determining module 1230 isoptional.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an apparatusfor determining path congestion, where the apparatus is located in anegress node 130 in an Ethernet path. As shown in FIG. 13, the apparatusspecifically includes:

an Ethernet ingress port 1310, configured to receive an Ethernet packet;

a pre-congestion determining module 1320, configured to determinewhether pre-congestion occurs in the egress node 130 after the Ethernetpacket is received;

a pre-congestion flag determining module 1330, configured to determinewhether a pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet afterthe Ethernet packet is received;

a pre-congestion status storage module 1331, configured to storepre-congestion status information of the Ethernet path;

a pre-congestion status changing module 1334, configured to determinewhether to change a current pre-congestion status, and change thecurrent pre-congestion status;

a pre-congestion status indication packet generating unit 1350,configured to generate a pre-congestion status indication packet whenthe pre-congestion status changing module 1334 determines that theegress node 130 changes the current pre-congestion status, where thepre-congestion status indication packet includes a path identifier ofthe Ethernet path; and

an Ethernet egress port 1340, configured to send the pre-congestionstatus indication packet.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a system fordetermining path congestion. As shown in FIG. 15 or FIG. 16, the systemincludes at least one Ethernet path, and in each Ethernet path, oneapparatus for determining path congestion in the embodiment as theingress node 110, at least one apparatus for determining path congestionin the embodiment as the intermediate node 120 (intermediate node 1,intermediate node 2, . . . , intermediate node N) is included, and oneapparatus for determining path congestion in the embodiment as theegress node 130 is included.

As shown in FIG. 16, the system for determining path congestion providedby the embodiment of the present disclosure may receive a pre-congestionstatus indication packet through the ingress node 1610 directly, andnotify an application function entity AF 1650 of performing admissioncontrol.

As shown in FIG. 17, the system may include one or more policy servers1760, which are configured to receive a pre-congestion status indicationpacket and notify an application function 1750 of performing admissioncontrol.

It is well-known for an ordinary person skilled in the art that,functions corresponding to the ingress node 110, the intermediate node120, and the egress node 130 in the embodiments may be integrated on aphysical device, which plays different roles and uses differentfunctions for different Ethernet paths, Therefore, the embodimentfurther provides an apparatus for determining path congestion, whichintegrates functions corresponding to an ingress node 110, anintermediate node 120, and an egress node 130. As shown in FIG. 14, theapparatus specifically includes the following:

an Ethernet ingress port 1410, configured to receive an Ethernet packet;

a pre-congestion determining module 1420, configured to determinewhether pre-congestion occurs in an Ethernet node after the Ethernetpacket is received;

a pre-congestion flag determining module 1430, configured to determinewhether a pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet afterthe Ethernet ingress port 1410 receives the Ethernet packet;

a pre-congestion flag module 1440, configured to set the pre-congestionflag in the Ethernet packet when the pre-congestion determining module1420 determines that the pre-congestion occurs in an ingress node 110 orin an intermediate node 120 when the apparatus is the ingress node 110or the intermediate node 120 in the path;

an Ethernet egress port 1460, configured to send the Ethernet packetwhen the apparatus is the ingress node 110 or the intermediate node 120in the Ethernet path;

the Ethernet egress port 1460, further configured to forward theEthernet packet when the pre-congestion determining module 1420determines that the pre-congestion does not occur in the ingress node110 or in the intermediate node 120 when the apparatus is the ingressnode 110 or the intermediate node 120 in the path;

a pre-congestion status storage module 1431, configured to store apre-congestion status of the Ethernet path when the apparatus is anegress node 130 in the path;

a pre-congestion status changing module 1433, configured to query thepre-congestion status stored in the pre-congestion status storage module1431, determine whether to change a current pre-congestion status, andchange the current pre-congestion status when it is determined that thecurrent pre-congestion status needs to be changed; and

a pre-congestion status indication packet generating unit 1450,configured to generate a pre-congestion status indication packet whenthe pre-congestion status changing module 1433 determines that theegress node 130 changes the current pre-congestion status when theapparatus is the egress node 130 in the path, where the pre-congestionstatus indication packet includes a path identifier.

When the apparatus is the egress node 130 in the path, the Ethernetegress port 1460 is further configured to send the pre-congestion statusindication packet.

When the apparatus is the ingress node 110 in the path, the Ethernetingress port 1410 is further configured to receive the pre-congestionstatus indication packet. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 14, theapparatus further includes a notification module 1470, which isconfigured to notify an application function entity AF 150 of performingadmission control after the Ethernet ingress port 1410 receives thepre-congestion status indication packet.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a policyserver, where the policy server is located in an Ethernet, including:

an Ethernet ingress port (1510), configured to receive a packet carryingpre-congestion information; and

a notification module (1520), configured to notify an applicationfunction entity AF (150) of performing admission control after theEthernet ingress port 1510 receives the packet carrying thepre-congestion information.

Through the above descriptions of the embodiments, an ordinary personskilled in the art may clearly understand that the present disclosuremay be implemented by software on necessary universal hardware, anddefinitely may also be implemented by hardware. The hardware may be acomputer or any computing device with a processor. Based on suchunderstandings, the solution of the present disclosure may besubstantially embodied in the form of a software product. The computersoftware product may be stored in a storage medium, for example, a ROM,a RAM, a magnetic disk, an optical disk and the like. The softwareproduct includes several instructions used to instruct computerequipment (for example, a personal computer, a server, or networkequipment) to perform the method according to the embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, a method forprocessing path congestion is provided, which is applicable to a policyserver (140) in an Ethernet, comprising: receiving a packet carryingpre-congestion information, and obtaining the pre-congestion informationof the Ethernet; and notifying an application function entity AF (150)of performing admission control.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, a method fordetermining path congestion is provided, which is applicable to anEthernet path, wherein an ingress node (110) or an intermediate node(120) in the Ethernet path receives an Ethernet packet; determineswhether pre-congestion occurs in the node; and sets a pre-congestionflag in the Ethernet packet if the pre-congestion occurs, and sends theEthernet packet.

Optional, the method further comprises: forwarding the Ethernet packetif the pre-congestion does not occur.

Optional, the setting the pre-congestion flag in the Ethernet packetcomprises: setting a CFI field of an 802.1Q protocol as a first numeralvalue in a header of the Ethernet packet; or setting a priority field ofan Ethernet 802.1Q protocol as a second numeral value in the header ofthe Ethernet packet.

Optional, the method further comprises: receiving, by the ingress node(110), a packet carrying pre-congestion information, and obtaining thepre-congestion information; and notifying an application function entityAF (150) of performing admission control.

Optional, method further comprising: determining, by the intermediatenode (120), whether the pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernetpacket after the Ethernet packet is received, wherein the determiningwhether the pre-congestion occurs in the intermediate node (120) anddetermining whether the pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernetpacket specifically comprises: determining whether the pre-congestionoccurs in the intermediate node (120), and forwarding the Ethernetpacket if the pre-congestion does not occur in the intermediate node(120); determining whether the pre-congestion flag is carried in theEthernet packet if the pre-congestion occurs to the intermediate node(120); forwarding the Ethernet packet if the pre-congestion flag iscarried in the Ethernet packet; and setting the pre-congestion flag inthe Ethernet packet if the pre-congestion flag is not carried in theEthernet packet; or determining whether the pre-congestion flag iscarried in the Ethernet packet, and forwarding the Ethernet packet ifthe pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet; anddetermining whether the pre-congestion occurs in the intermediate node(120) if the pre-congestion flag is not carried in the Ethernet packet.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, an apparatus fordetermining path congestion is provided, wherein the apparatus islocated in an Ethernet path, comprising: an Ethernet ingress port (1110,1210, 1310, 1410), configured to receive an Ethernet packet; apre-congestion determining module (1120, 1220, 1320, 1420), configuredto determine whether pre-congestion occurs in the apparatus fordetermining path congestion after the Ethernet ingress port (1110, 1210,1310, 1410) receives the Ethernet packet; and a pre-congestion flagdetermining module (1230, 1330, 1430), configured to determine whetheran pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet after theEthernet ingress port (1110, 1210, 1310, 1410) receives the Ethernetpacket.

Optional, when the apparatus for determining path congestion is locatedin an ingress node (110) or an intermediate node (120) in the Ethernetpath, the apparatus further comprises: a pre-congestion flag module(1130, 1250, 1440), configured to set the pre-congestion flag in theEthernet packet when the pre-congestion determining module (1120, 1220,1320, 1420) determines that the pre-congestion occurs in the ingressnode (110) or in the intermediate node (120); and an Ethernet egressport (1140, 1240, 1340, 1460), configured to send the Ethernet packet.

Optional, when the apparatus is the ingress node (110) or theintermediate node (120) in the Ethernet path, the Ethernet egress port(1140, 1240, 1340, 1460) is further configured to forward the Ethernetpacket when the pre-congestion determining module (1120, 1220, 1320,1420) determines that the pre-congestion does not occur in the ingressnode (110) or the intermediate node (120).

Optional, when the apparatus is the ingress node (110) in the Ethernetpath, the Ethernet ingress port (1110, 1210, 1310, 1410) is furtherconfigured to receive the pre-congestion status indication packet, andthe apparatus further comprises a notification module (1150, 1470),which is configured to notify an application function entity AF (150) ofperforming admission control after the Ethernet ingress port (1110,1210, 1310, 1410) receives the pre-congestion status indication packet.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, a policy server isprovided, wherein the policy server is located in an Ethernet,comprising: an Ethernet ingress port (1510), configured to receive apacket carrying pre-congestion information; and a notification module(1520), configured to notify an application function entity AF (150) ofperforming admission control after the Ethernet ingress port (1510)receives the packet carrying the pre-congestion information.

The above is merely exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, butthe protection scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto.Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made withoutdeparting from the spirit and principle of the present disclosure shouldfall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

1. A method for determining path congestion of an Ethernet path,comprising: receiving, by an egress node in the Ethernet path, anEthernet packet; determining, by the egress node, whether the egressnode changes a current pre-congestion status, wherein the currentpre-congestion status comprises a status that a pre-congestion occursand a status that the pre-congestion does not occur; generating apre-congestion status indication packet when the current pre-congestionstatus is changed, wherein the pre-congestion status indication packetcomprises a path identifier of the Ethernet path; and sending thepre-congestion status indication packet to an ingress node or a policyserver, so that ingress node or the policy server performs admissioncontrol.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining whetherthe egress node changes the current pre-congestion status comprises:determining whether the pre-congestion occurs in the egress node andwhether a pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet.
 3. Themethod according to claim 2, wherein determining whether thepre-congestion occurs in the egress node and whether the pre-congestionflag is carried in the Ethernet packet comprises: determining whetherthe pre-congestion occurs in the egress node and whether thepre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet when the currentpre-congestion status is the status that the pre-congestion does notoccur; and changing the current pre-congestion status from the statusthat pre-congestion does not occur into the status that currentpre-congestion occurs when the pre-congestion occurs in the egress nodeand the pre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet, whereinthe pre-congestion status indication packet indicates that thepre-congestion occurs in the Ethernet path; and determining whether thepre-congestion occurs in the egress node and whether the pre-congestionflag is carried in the Ethernet packet when the current pre-congestionstatus is the status that the pre-congestion occurs; and changing thecurrent pre-congestion status from the status that pre-congestion occursinto the status that the pre-congestion does not occur when thepre-congestion does not occur in the egress node and the pre-congestionflag is not carried in the Ethernet packet, wherein the pre-congestionstatus indication packet indicates that the pre-congestion does notoccur in the Ethernet path.
 4. The method according to claim 3, whereinsending the pre-congestion status indication packet to the ingress nodeor the policy server comprises that: the pre-congestion statusindication packet is an 802.1Q protocol packet when the pre-congestionstatus indication packet is sent to the ingress node; and thepre-congestion status indication packet is the 802.1Q protocol packet ora common open policy service COPS protocol packet when thepre-congestion status indication packet is sent to the policy server,wherein a virtual Ethernet identifier in the 802.1Q protocol packet is amanagement virtual local area network identifier.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 3, wherein when the pre-congestion does not occur inthe egress node and the pre-congestion flag is not carried in theEthernet packet, the Ethernet packet is forwarded.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 3, wherein when the pre-congestion flag is carried inthe Ethernet packet, the pre-congestion flag is deleted, and theEthernet packet is forwarded.
 7. The method according to claim 1,wherein the path identifier is a virtual local area network identifierVLAN ID.
 8. An apparatus for determining path congestion, wherein theapparatus is located in an Ethernet path, comprising: an Ethernetingress port, configured to receive an Ethernet packet; a pre-congestiondetermining module, configured to determine whether pre-congestionoccurs in the apparatus for determining path congestion after theEthernet ingress port receives the Ethernet packet; and a pre-congestionflag determining module, configured to determine whether anpre-congestion flag is carried in the Ethernet packet after the Ethernetingress port receives the Ethernet packet.
 9. The apparatus according toclaim 8, wherein when the apparatus is located in an egress node in theEthernet path, the apparatus further comprises: a pre-congestion statusstorage module, configured to store a pre-congestion status of theEthernet path; a pre-congestion status changing module, configured toquery the pre-congestion status stored in the pre-congestion statusstorage module, determine whether to change the pre-congestion status,and change the pre-congestion status; a pre-congestion status indicationpacket generating unit, configured to generate a pre-congestion statusindication packet when the pre-congestion status changing moduledetermines that the egress node changes the pre-congestion status,wherein the pre-congestion status indication packet comprises a pathidentifier of the Ethernet path; and the Ethernet egress port,configured to send the pre-congestion status indication packet.
 10. Theapparatus according to claim 8, wherein when the apparatus fordetermining path congestion is located in an ingress node in theEthernet path, the apparatus further comprises: a pre-congestion flagmodule, configured to set the pre-congestion flag in the Ethernet packetwhen the pre-congestion determining module determine s that thepre-congestion occurs in the ingress node or in the intermediate node;and an Ethernet egress port, configured to send the Ethernet packet. 11.The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when the apparatus is theingress node in the Ethernet path, the Ethernet egress port is furtherconfigured to forward the Ethernet packet when the pre-congestiondetermining module determines that the pre-congestion does not occur inthe ingress node or the intermediate node.
 12. The apparatus accordingto claim 10, wherein when the apparatus is the ingress node in theEthernet path, the Ethernet ingress port is further configured toreceive the pre-congestion status indication packet, and the apparatusfurther comprises a notification module, which is configured to notifyan application function entity (AF) of performing admission controlafter the Ethernet ingress port receives the pre-congestion statusindication packet.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein whenthe apparatus for determining path congestion is located in anintermediate node in the Ethernet path, the apparatus further comprises:a pre-congestion flag module, configured to set the pre-congestion flagin the Ethernet packet when the pre-congestion determining moduledetermines that the pre-congestion occurs in the ingress node or in theintermediate node; and an Ethernet egress port, configured to send theEthernet packet.
 14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein whenthe apparatus is the intermediate node in the Ethernet path, theEthernet egress port is further configured to forward the Ethernetpacket when the pre-congestion determining module determines that thepre-congestion does not occur in the ingress node or the intermediatenode.